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K.V. Kurmanath

GMR group to develop the urban hub around new Hyderabad airport

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Hyderabad Feb. 10 When the new international airport here gets ready for commercial operations in early 2008, it would not be just another airport. It is going to be the nucleus of the country's first aerotropolis, a new urban form that would house business parks, hotels, residential units and entertainment areas.

The aerotropolis would come up around the new generation airport.

The GMR group, which also bagged the international airport project at Delhi with Fraport of Germany, would also develop the aerotropolis.

These airport cities would be taken up on the lines of Incheon (South Korea), Dubai and Munich airports. An aerotropolis offers operational convenience for companies and organisations to maximise the benefits, while cutting down on expenditure significantly.

"We are in the process of finalising a master plan with the help of CPG consultants based out of Singapore," Mr G.M. Rao, Chairman of the GMR group, told Business Line. The company expects the plan to be ready in two months.

Greenfield airport

GMR leads a consortium comprising GMR Infrastructure (63 per cent) and Malaysian Airports Holding Berhad (11 per cent) to construct Rs 2,283.18-crore greenfield airport at Shamshadbad near here.

"The aerotropolis would prove to be a trigger to the State's economy, with a number of multinational companies preferring to have office, residential convention and exposition facilities in the vicinity of the airport," he said.

According to Prof John D. Kasarda, Director of the US-based Frank Kawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, airports would do what seaports, railways and highways did in the past, resulting in the phenomenal growth of business locations.

Economic impact

Prof Kasarda, who coined the word aerotropolis and studied extensively how airports affected growth in major cities, said spines and clusters of airport-linked businesses are forming along airport transportation corridors in a radius of 25 km. "There will be significant economic impact up to 90 km," he observed.

Prof Kasarda was recently in Delhi to speak on `Airport-driven business development — India's aerotropolis opportunity'.

Stating that India had a huge potential to tap, Prof Kasarda said the country should rather go for an organised, economically efficient, aesthetically pleasing and environmentally sustainable aerotropolis.

More Stories on : Infrastructure | Airlines | Urban Development

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